Care for a spot of tea?

Said with a British Accent of course :-)  Today we had a Traditional English Afternoon Tea at the British Museum - it was fabulous! 

Not only did we each order our own (just like Americans) but I ate every bite - all of us did...  it was delicious!  Scones with clotted cream and jam; tea sandwiches, and an assorted dessert plate - yum!

After tea I found this statue which of course reminded me of one of my favorite movies (can you guess??)  I think it looks just like the statue of Darcy in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice.

Later we grabbed a pint at a local pub... when leaving the pub, this sign was part of the sidewalk and I couldn't agree more!

It was a great day!

C. S. Lewis House in Oxford

This is our guide; she is from the states and works as a volunteer for the CSLewis foundation... she is standing next to the Kitchen stove an Aga which is always on and always at 450 degrees!

Yesterday we went to the house of C.S.Lewis, also known as Jack...  the house (the Kilns) was very cool and beautiful; the gardens were amazing.  During the war he did have children from London come to live with him and thus his inspiration for the Chronicles of Narnia.  The wardrobe was actually the attic where the children would escape to play and pretend...  Here are a few pictures from the house (the house underwent much restoration all by volunteers; much of the furniture is period-appropriate, but was bought during the restoration in the 1990's thus not original to "Jack")

More Pictures of Hogwarts/Christ Church Enjoy!

Can you spot the Gryffindor?

Christ Church (aka Hogwarts Castle)

Today we were in Oxford, home to the great university and also Christ Church, which was a model and partial setting for Hogwarts Castle. The Great Hall/dining room; a few staircases, and the courtyard areas can be seen here at the Cathedral grounds (this was very cool).

Here we are in the staircase leading up to the dining hall.  (the 2 girls with me are Joanna and Stephanie, both from Florida;)

The dining hall.

This is a small courtyard that looks familiar.

This is a picture of the outside of the church, grounds, and gardens. 

My pictures to not do it justice, but thanks for looking ;)

Tomorrow I'll write about our trip to C. S. Lewis' house...  good night

Oxford University Library (for Judy)

Our guide at the Bodleian Library

I don't know what to blog about first?!?!??  Today was awesome!  We went to Oxford University's Bodleian Library.  Named for Sir Thomas Bodley who donated (in books) all of his wife's money and most of his own to form the current collection of what is now Oxford University's Library; a total sum of 20,000 pounds in the year 1610.  He also took steps to ensure that the library collection would continue to grow; he did this by contacting a London printing press and striking a deal with them to give a free copy of every item they print (newspaper, magazine, book, etc.) to the library, in exchange the library would never get rid of anything given to them and if need be the item could be referenced to be reprinted (if something happened to the original volume, they could copy/replicate from the other original that is given to the library).  To this day, the library still receives one free copy of every item that is printed in the entire UK (something like 1500 books every week, not including newspapers, serials, etc.); the books come in every Wednesday and must be processed and shelved by the following Wednesday when they receive the next batch.  The library measures it's collection growth in miles/year (it grows 2 miles each year)!!!!  

THAT'S A LOT OF BOOKS TO PROCESS!!!

I could go on, but I will wrap up by saying that one difference of this library is that no book may ever leave the library; books are borrowed to be read in the reading rooms of the library and may not be taken out by anyone, not even the King (King Charles I did ask one time, but even he was told no).  If you want to "borrow" a book, the patron puts in a computer request which takes up to 3 hours, then the book must be read in one of the reading rooms, it cannot be taken out of the library.  I did see the archives/stacks of books and wow - they also have a complete underground book mover that goes between the several buildings (so cool) even under the street.  No pictures are allowed inside the library.

'Ello 'Ole Chaps!

Classes and Assignments:

A few have asked :-) about the course work and classes; this blog is one of my continuing assignments (which is awesome b/c it sort of forces me to be a better blogger by keeping up with it daily, and thank you to all who are tuning in to keep up with me - love it!!!).  The class is great... it is a multimedia web class, we go sightseeing to have inspiration/subject matter for our web projects such as the blog, facebook, and soon a podcast, video, and photobook. It is also a (beginners-very beginning for me) digital photography class, so our pictures and the techniques pictured (which I haven't done many at all, now that I've got the picture taking down, I need to be more artistic with them) are also classwork. I am looking forward to experimenting more with both the blog and the pictures (I just need more time to do it all).

Miss everyone and plan on posting a ton of pictures to a photo sharing website (just have to figure out which one I want to use - open for suggestions); I am literally taking like 100 pictures a day! I will let you know when I do. In the mean time, here's some pics from the top of St. Paul's - the front towers of St. Paul's, we were standing in the base of the clock tower on the left, and the Globe Theater across the Thames (and you are no longer allowed to feed the birds from the Steps of St. Paul's either - which I was fine with - a few of us sang the song - did you know Nate works for Disney... he posted a funny story about Alexis and I from yesterday on his blog natedujour - if you want to check it out - thanks Nate).

St. Paul's Cathedral & St. Martin in the Fields

Greetings, today we visited the National Gallery & National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar's Square; while there I went into St. Martin in the Fields Parish Church (so beautiful and full of Light) and had lunch in the Crypt Cafe where you can also make rubbings from the London Brass Rubbing Centre (very cool).

Later we had a private guided tour of St. Paul's Cathedral; just incredible, there is so much you get to see and learn when you pay for the guided tour!  No pictures were allowed inside the church, but it is just absolutely beautiful and to think that the church is having it's 300th birthday this year and they started building it by hand in the 1600s!!!  They recently re-opened the dome for climbing, so we went all the way up, through the Whispering Gallery, past the Stone Gallery, all the way to the Golden Gallery...  so fun, and to think people have been climbing and working up there for centuries?!?!

Is that us climbing to Professor Trelawney's Divination Classroom in the Hogwarts Castle?  No, it's just the staircase to the Bell Tower in St. Paul's.  One added Bonus to the guided tour :-)